This study sought to explore the power of self-generated drawing to improve reading comprehension of English language learners in a university setting. Fourteen undergraduate students, divided into control and experimental groups, read a chapter from a graded reader. The experimental group was instructed to construct self-generated drawings as…

The construct of "learning potential" has been proposed to capture differences between learner independent performance and performance during Dynamic Assessment (DA). This paper introduces a new LPS formula implemented in a DA study involving Pakistani learners of L2 Chinese. Learners were randomly assigned to a control or experimental…

Though dynamic assessment (DA) has gained strong theoretical and empirical support over the last decades, second language (L2) practitioners have blamed it for its applicability in large classes. To ameliorate this limitation, peer-dynamic assessment (peer-DA), rooted in the conceptualization of zone of proximal development (ZPD), can be…

Professional training for language instructors needs to be more accessible and high-leverage in order to meet the growing demand for proficient users of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese languages. More specifically, teachers of these languages need exposure to effective teaching methods designed to meet the language-specific needs required to help…

This cross-border narrative analyzes the intercultural perspectives of two doctoral students, one Chinese and the other Italian, who are international doctoral students conducting research in the United States. The first author is doing a doctorate in education in international adult and higher education, while the second author is undertaking a…

Language assessment is a vital part of the process of learning and teaching a foreign language. Language learners need to be provided with the best methods to measure how much they are acquiring the target language and to select the most authentic tasks of testing for them. As it has been recommended to use multiple assessment instead of…

This review discusses and compares the findings of 38 peer-reviewed studies on text-based synchronous computer-mediated communication for second or foreign language learning from over the past twelve years. Research themes that emerged include: modality, corrective feedback, noticing, alignment and uptake, as well as task design/conditions and…

Concept-based language instruction (C-BLI) is a pedagogy guided by sociocultural theory, which has been shown to be effective in facilitating second language learning. Typical activities include materialization by using a schema for a complete orienting basis of an action (SCOBA) and languaging, through which learners' internalization of…

The present work examines the impact of code-switching (CS) on novel word learning in adult second language (L2) learners of Spanish. Participants completed two sessions (1-3 days apart). In the first session, they were taught 32 nonwords corresponding to novel creatures. Training occurred across 4 conditions: (1) a sentence in English only, (2) a…

A large number of studies have explored grammar instruction through implicit and explicit instructional conditions. The general conclusion drawn from these studies points to the superiority of explicit instruction; however, the claim has been attenuated by a number of reservations raised regarding its generalizability across types of grammatical…

Mobile touchscreen applications present new opportunities for children's language learning. This systematic review synthesizes the evidence on the impact of features of mobile applications on children's language learning. Experimental studies published from 2010 onwards with children aged 3 to 11 years old were included. Of the 1,081 studies…

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, universities in Japan had been slow to transition from paper-based to digital methods and materials. In addition, the most applicable theories for teaching and learning languages with digital technologies had not been considered deeply by many university teachers, and their beliefs about these theories had not been…

In this article, I argue that first language (L1), second language (L2) and third language (L3) acquisition are fundamentally the same process, based on learning by parsing. Both child and adult learners are sensitive to fine linguistic distinctions, and language development takes place in small steps. While the bulk of the article focuses on…

The purpose of this state-of-the-art review is to provide a general overview of recent research on time distribution and second language (L2) learning with special implications for classroom settings. Several studies have been performed to examine how to best distribute the hours of L2 practice to maximize learning by comparing conditions that…

Peer learning, also known as collaborative learning, is based on social constructivism and contends that learning takes place more actively when students interact socially with their peers. This study sought to examine the effects of scaffolded peer assessment in group-oriented classrooms on developing speaking skills and enlarging the vocabulary…